The Sabre Project
by Fred A234
Summary: A recollection of Sabre Team, a special operations unit composed of Spartan III's from an unknown author. Will Sabre team make it to the end of the war? What secrets do its members hold? Rated M for adult themes, language, and gore.
1. Aftermath

**Halo, and everything in it, belongs to Microsoft. Sabre team and all it's members however, belong to me.**

Author's Note

This story is mostly concerned with a classified team of Spartan III's, who are cheaper, and higher in numbers than their Spartan II counterparts, though individually are less effective.

Also, this story contains a number of flashbacks from the Spartan III's so I thought it would be important for a timeline of the Spartan III project's actions would make it easier to understand what is going on.

Dec. 27th 2531- Alpha Company is sent to Onyx to begin their training.

Nov. 2536- All three hundred Spartans of Alpha Company survive augmentations and assume active duty.

July 2537- A number of Spartan III's are pulled out of Alpha company by Franklin Mendez to serve in special operations teams and to avoid upcoming Operation PROMETHEUS.

July 2537- Formation of Beta Company authorized.

July 27th 2537- Operation PROMETHEUS begins, the objective is to destroy as many Covenant reactors as possible on the asteroid K7-49, a Covenant shipyard.

July 29th 2537- Seven reactors have been destroyed, a weak attack force has been assembled by the Covenant.

August 1st 2537- Covenant retaliates with a massive strike force, first Spartan casualties occur. Twenty more reactors destroyed by this point.

August 2nd 2537- Covenant return with even more reinforcements, and massacre all remaining survivors. By this time enough reactors have been disabled to cool the asteroid, making the asteroid useless as a shipyard. Operation PROMETHEUS is a success, despite losing all Alpha company Spartans except those pulled out directly before the operation.

2537- The three hundred Spartans of Beta company begin training.

2542- Beta company Spartans survive augmentations and assume active duty.

2542- Franklin Mendez again pulls out Spartans from Beta company to serve in special operations units and to avoid upcoming Operation TORPEDO.

2545- Similar to Operation Prometheus, TORPEDO is successful, though this time two Spartans survive the operation, Tom and Lucy.

2547- With the help of Tom and Lucy, training for Gamma company begins.

2552- All three hundred thirty Spartans of Gamma company survive the augmentation, and are sent to active duty, except for fifteen of them, who remain on planet Onyx to compete for top honors.

The date is January 27th 2576. Twenty-four years since the end of the Great War. My name is **** ****. I am ** years old. I have composed this as a final monument to the actions of Sabre team during the Great War.

Chapter 1

January 2543

Jacob looked through the scope of his Designated Marksman Rifle and surveyed the recent battlefield. Soldiers lie dead on the muddy hillside. His soldiers. Maybe if he had gotten their sooner. Maybe if he hadn't…. "No", he told himself. He couldn't think like that. The Commander turned to the Spartan sitting next to him on a large chunk of destroyed concrete. "Hey Zach". The Spartan made no acknowledgement he had heard his friend. "Zach." Still no response. "Zachary!" Slowly, the younger Spartan looked up at his Commanding Officer. "What?" he said flatly. Jacob replied "I'll get things situated with the platoon leader, find the rest of the team".

Without a word Zachary stood up, grabbed his nearby Assault Rifle, and started a slow jog down the hillside.

Jacob entered the building that had served as the command center during the assault. "So much for a command center" he thought grimly. It was a large concrete house with two floors at the top of the hillside facing down, North. The roof had collapsed and the East wall was completely gone. The walls and windows were riddled with plasma burns. As he entered, he realized that at some point, it had also become the building for the wounded. Stretchers and temporary beds had been lined up within the house.

Looking at the Marines around him, Jacob felt a sudden emptiness. So few wounded… The memory of his training long ago flooded to him _"The Covenant do not take prisoners" _his former mentor had said _"but that won't matter, Spartans do not get captured". _Now it mattered. Now more than ever.

But at least his team was-…. His face grew pale under his visor and no one could see the horrible expression on his face. The last time he had seen Sim….

He felt pain, agonizing pain in his leg. That was a good sign. Pain meant he was still alive. "Name. What is my name?". Memories poured into him. "Simeral A241. Spartan III Alpha Company." They came faster now, so fast he could barely comprehend. His name. His friends. His home. All came flooding back to him in an instant. "Ahhhrgh!" The pain was in his head now, then his face, his arm, his leg. His leg. He winced. The last thing he remembered was…. the mortar. More pain. His leg was his focus now. Simeral tried to look down and realized he couldn't.

Zachary continued his jog until he reached the small outcropping that had been the sniper post. He tried to register what he saw. "Fred!" His slow, nonchalant manner immediately faded and was replaced by fear and shock. He saw Frederick, lying face up without his helmet, his face covered in blood…

Zach quickly knelt down and his training kicked in. He was alive, barely. The gash across his face stretched from the right corner of his forehead diagonally, down to the bridge of his nose where it had lessened, then it became deep again continuing down his left cheek, past his chin, and finally ending in the crook of his neck, where Zach had guessed to be two and a half millimeters from his jugular vein.

Fred's eyes fluttered open. A large smile came to life. "Got lucky didn't I?" He coughed up blood onto his chest. No, he realized. He hadn't gotten blood on his chest by coughing, he had…. His eyes wandered to the large gaping hole in his side. Fred almost went into shock, almost. Then, remembering his training, managed to keep calm. He registered his surroundings. Zach, his friend. He remembered now. The Elite with the needler, the explosion of the warthog.

Then he passed out. Zach dressed the wound as quickly as the severity of it would allow. Then he carefully picked up his friend, and headed back toward the Command center.

Steven wandered the battlefield at the bottom of the hillside. Pools of blood and bodies had fallen down the slope and gathered here. Human and Covenant. The Sergeant in command had made it the first task of the soldiers in his command to take the wounded to the command center. The second was to separate the bodies of the fallen. The Marines were all digging graves for their fallen comrades, and the bodies of the enemy were now in a large pile at the western edge of the makeshift camp. Steven had his own ideas.

Walking along the Eastern side of the camp, he found the structure that had collapsed from the plasma mortar. To his horror, he found Sim's helmet. Light green, his gold colored visor shattered. Steven doubled over as he saw Sim's left arm sticking out from a piece of debris.

"No!" He thought as he lifted the large slab of concrete from his teammate. He had never seen a Spartan die. He didn't think it was possi- Sim's arm twitched. Hastily, Steven checked Simeral for wounds. He seemed alright, some bruising in his face a few cuts… Steven lurched as he comprehended the severity of Sim's leg wound. It looked like there was more shrapnel than flesh. He called for a corpsman….

"Goddamit son! You're telling my men died here so you could protect one of ONI's freak show projects?" Jacob stared into the eyes of the Colonel before him through his visor, then removing the helmet he spoke "Yes sir, it was a Class four directive from the Chairman of the committee, I have specific orders here sir." handing him the papers. Colonel Stanfield seized the papers, and after a quick glance he looked upon the Spartan with disgust. "Well then I suggest you complete your business and get the hell out of my sight!" "Right away sir!".

Jacob turned to walk out when an approaching transport warthog stopped, and a large Spartan stepped out of the passenger seat, and began loading someone from the back. "Steven!" he called, relieved "Have you seen-" he stopped dead as Steven unloaded Sim out of warthog. He gaped. "Oh god, what happened?".

When Fred awoke he found his pain had lessened. His first thought he said aloud "Alison!" "It's okay mate, she's salvaging equipment in the lab, the battle's over". Relief washed over him as he turned to his comrade. Man, Zach could calm you down if he wanted to. "Sim?" he asked. "Over here!" came a grunt as the Spartan floated over to him. Where are we? "Off planet, in the medbay of the cruiser" offered Zach "Alice and Jake are still groundside doing cleanup work". "Are they-" Sim cut him off "The Covenant's been wiped from this system, for now anyways… They'll be fine". "Good, I was worried about them". Even though Sim knew that the majority of his concern had been with only one of their squad mates.


	2. Introduction

**Chapter Two**

**After that brief combat dialogue, here is an introduction to Sabre team and how it came to be. Though, I did not discover this information even though * *** ****** ** *** **** *** **** *****.**

**Sabre team had gotten it's start when an anonymous ONI official had requested that the Office of Naval Intelligence have it's own personal strike team to quickly and effectively react to small, sudden outbreaks of Covenant and Insurrectionists. No one is sure exactly when this was, but it is estimated to be ***** *** *** as by the time knowledge of this "Sabre Team" was out in public nearly all records had been wiped clean. What we do know is that Sabre team was created shortly after the official's request was made. It was made up of five Spartan III's from Alpha company, who, along with less than thirty of their counterparts, were pulled out of active duty by Kurt Ambrose and Franklin Mendez just before Operation PROMETHEUS. Whoever created the name Sabre team must have been a god-damn fortune teller. Later, when officials discovered it's files they mistook it to be Saber team, a Gamma company SIII team that had perished on Onyx, and therefore ignored it. At first.**

**By the time of the team's dismissal from ONI and during it's most effective time, Sabre team had only one member left from the original team, Jacob. He started out as the lowest rank member of the squad during it's early phases as slowly, each member lost their life or was reassigned. Under Jacob's eventual leadership Sabre team had the highest number of Spartan's of any squad up to now. **

**Many in ONI believed it was a gross misevaluation of valuable resources to have eight Spartans on one team, especially with Spartan resources spread so thin. That being said, the only people who actually knew of the team's existence, were high ranking officials who were usually more interested with political power than the war with the Covenant. **

**So, Sabre team was able to evade political criticism for what is generally thought to be over ninety percent of the time it existed.**

**Thus it's various leaders were able to enjoy virtually unlimited funding and materials during it's operation time.**


	3. Memories and Friendship

Chapter 3

January 2543

Alison was deep in the inner workings of the comms relay station, desperately trying to hold it together until they could get a latest generation A.I. with talent in communications to repair the station. However, until that time Alison worked bitterly to keep hold of the systems information servers.

Jacob walked briskly down the hallway entrance to the communications hub of the station. As he entered the room, the only acknowledgement that his fellow Spartan had heard him, was a small grunt. "Hey you don't look very happy for someone who just got a 4th generation A.I. to replace them".

Alison sighed with relief "Thank God! I thought we were going to lose half this station if one didn't arrive soon." Jacob coolly tossed the small chip containing the A.I. at Alice. She caught it, and proceeded to enter it into the main communication server. Suddenly on the screen, the image of a young woman with a long bright bridal gown that constantly waved like the ocean appeared.

"These damn A.I.'s. The more advanced they get, the more creative appearance they seem to get." Alison thought. The figure spoke. "You held this station together for quite a while with the limited resources, Lieutenant. Alison took an immediate disliking to the A.I. "I would rather have been fighting with my team, mam."

"Yes, while I'm sure you would have enjoyed the freedom of the battlefield, higher intellects such as yours are busy with matters of more importance". The A.I. was startled with Alice's sudden rage. "What in the hell would you know about the battlefield! Every soldier counts, though I suppose human life isn't something you take into consideration." The A.I. paused, then spoke "You are dismissed, Lieutenant, clearly you have had quite a week here, without rest I presume. You too Commander". They walked silently to the station's landing pad. "If only I has been in the fight…" She thought to herself "I might've been able to stop-" her heart skipped a beat as the images of Fred's wounds came back to her. She suddenly doubled over, wanting to vomit, but couldn't.

"Alice you okay?" Jacob saw her lean forward. Alice collapsed in the hallway and Jacob quickly helped her to her feet. "Alice!" "I'm okay" she managed to get out. "Let's go". The first time she had seen the image reports she had become sick for twenty minutes before being able to continue her work. Even Spartans had their limits.

Simeral gazed at his brother-like partner. They were both in the medbay of the miniature prowler _The_ _Achilles. _Sim remembered the first time he met Fred, though at the time he had not distinguished him from the other candidates. It was just after he and the other children had jumped out of a pelican dropship with nothing but their clothes, a parachute, and a shit-load of airspace between them and the ground. The Green Armored Spartan II had then gave them a inspirational speech…

"_As my mother once said to me, You will be become the best we can make you." Even now Kurt found himself questioning the morals of this. "You will become the greatest soldiers the human race has ever seen, and for that matter, the greatest The Covenant has either."_

_The training had continued the next day where they were placed into squads of three. "Hi there, I'm Alison." said the strawberry blonde haired girl with green eyes. The curly brown haired boy who had hair at least four inches long, stared at him with his deep blue eyes. "I'm Fred he said to the girl" and then turning to Sim "What's your name?" "Simeral" he answered, expecting immediate laughter at his ridiculous name. "Nice! I wish my name wasn't so boring. Frederick." At the mention of his name, the other boy shuddered. "Listen up!" said an old, and battle scarred man at the front of the crowd of children. "You are to enter the obstacle course and ring the bell…" For six months they had all routinely placed around the average group of the children in all squad competitions. _

_Six months later Sim had seen Alison climb into Fred's bunk. At seven years old he did not understand this, and though he did not know it, neither Fred or Alison did either._

_One year later, on his self-set birthday, Fred had received his present from Sim, a week's worth of stolen MRE food rations, mostly Spaghetti and meatballs, Fred's favorite. Alison had attempted to get Fred a stun baton from one of the guards, although failed in doing so. She had paid dearly for that. After that she promised to herself no one would ever catch her sneaking around again. No guard in the camp ever did._

_One and a half years after that, they were entering their third year of training, and Fred and Sim had been placed as snipers in a pair, and Alison in her own squad. Though the three of them _

_still snuck out almost every night to see one another. Alison could easily slip past the guards, but Fred and Sim were caught more than once._

Sim shifted back to the present. He had always been partners with Fred. They had always shared everything, that's why they were such a good pair. Sim knew the look in his eyes. Something had happened on that classified op, but Fred and Alison kept their information classified as well. Something had happened, he could tell, the same look was in their face during their last year of training.

Tomorrow Fred would be sent back to active duty, it would still be another week before Sim was able to. "Some people get all the luck"


	4. Operation KNEISS

Chapter 4

February 2543

Fred was sitting in the troop bay of a pelican dropship, along with James, Vivian, and Alison. Fred looked out the open bay doors at the rainforest below him. It was monsoon season on this colony, wherever it was. ONI had assured them it was better not to know.

All they knew was that it was one of the outer colonies, and the objective. Fred looked across the bay at the Spartan with maroon armor. James. The largest of the four of them. The commanding officer of this operation. His gaze shifted to light blue smaller Spartan before him. Alison looked good in blue, she always had. Her helmet was off and he couldn't help but notice her hair was more than a few inches past regulation, but Jacob had let it slide.

Next to Fred, sat Vivian. The scariest person he knew. No other Spartan had been such a master of close quarters combat. The large kukri on her shoulder, and the various shotgun shells held on her armor added to her lethality. The pelican slowed, and began it's descent. It hovered a few feet above the treeless hill covered in tall grass that stood above the tall trees around it's base that extended for kilometers in every direction.

Fred stole a glance into Alison's eyes just before he hopped out. Her eyes stared right into his and just before his exit, she told him "Don't die out there". "I'll take it off my to do list". They both smiled as he grabbed his SRS99, his small survival pack, the large duffel bag filled with camoflauge eqipment and stepped out of the dropship. He remebered the full words of the sentence that Alison had spoken to him just before they had entered the Pelican. "Don't die out there, I love you too much.

He was immediately surrounded with neck high moist grass. At least it had stopped raining, though clouds still hung in the sky.

Just a few hours later the hill had turned into a death field. Fred had placed LOTUS anti-tank mines on every path leading up to the hill, set the sensitivity meters to four, that way someone couldn't just stumble up the path, but they wouldn't go off if most of the small local wildlife had crossed paths with the mines.

His small keyhole in the grass could only be seen by a keen set of eyes, and even then only from a close range and knowing what they were looking for. He had camouflaged his Ghillie hood in the tall grass and done the same with his rifle. He zoomed in on the South end of the compound with his twenty power scope. A voice on the communications earpiece in his helmet broke the silence. "You ready up there?" "Good to go James" came his response. A short time later his comm sounded again. "Two minutes".

Fred blocked all else from his mind. He became stone cold and non-reactive as most snipers did before battle. Fred loaded his rifle with very expensive A091G armor piercing rounds, in a large four round magazine. He had four more of the magazines lined up next to him, in fashion that would require the least amount of time between reloading.

Vivian sat in silence as she waited for the go from James. She examined her black armor, covered in scratches from use. She pulled out her kukri, to make sure it was razor sharp. It was. Vivian examined the forty foot tall one foot thick steel wall in front of her. Motion sensors on and electrical wires on top and bottom. Even a Spartan could not go over or under unnoticed. Hell they couldn't get anywhere unnoticed here.

The comm in her helmet went off "Two minutes". She picked up her M45 8 Gauge Tactical Shotgun. Viv thought about the recent scene in the dropship. James hadn't seen it, but she had. Fred and Alison. There was something about them… "Thirty seconds". She had no time to think about that now. She focused on the task at hand. Twenty Eight seconds later she crouched behind the rock at just outside the east wall. She braced herself.

James and Alison sat crouched on either side of the West road that led into the compound. Inside, seven buildings were filled to the brim with insurrectionists. She heard James in her comm softly "Go". At that moment two explosions rocked the area, one a few feet from her completely destroying the west entrance road and the two warthogs that lay upon it. The other was on the East side of the compound. It created a hole in the wall in which Vivian could enter the compound.

James sprinted through what used to be the West entrance and focused his MA37 assault rifle on the startled men coming out of the barracks. He put all three down with a few bursts. The dull thuds of an M6G handgun behind him were a sign that Alison had cleared the guardhouse.

He ran to the Officer's quarters and place the charge on the door next to him. His left hand gripped the detonator, his right gripped his assault rifle. James squeezed his left hand. The door flew to shreds. Tossing in two flash grenades, James proceeded to put a small burst into the guard standing before him. The room to his right was clear. He heard three dull thuds once again, but this time in the back of the building he had just entered. His helmet filled with Alison's voice "He's not here."

James was yelling in his comm now "Viv, the target is in the HQ, do not leave until that area is cleared." "Copy that. Slight problem, they have a fifty cal. In the center building and I'm pinned down." "Got it, sit tight".

As he exited the structure James began firing at the building in the center of the camp. The one with the fifty cal. He ran straight ahead and was just in time for the gunner to swivel and send a storm of bullets in his direction. James dove, then rolled and ended up in a half standing position with his back up against the building. He tossed two fragmentation grenades through the open window and after the two loud explosions, he aimed his assault rifle in the window and sprayed whatever was left of the innies.

Alison was pinned down at the North gate by five insurrectionists with submachine guns. She saw an unarmored man running out of the HQ building. Alice lifted her rifle and fired. Only three rounds came before *Clack*. The ammo counter on her assault rifle read zero. She screamed into the comm "Fred, target sighted on North entrance heading to nearby vehic-" before she was able to finish, the man's chest exploded. An impressive shot, from five kilometers away. Suddenly, all around her innies began to drop like flies. Fred was an expert marksman. He had been waiting for the target to come into the open to reveal his presence, and once he did, hell rained upon the enemy.

James yelled into his comm, "We need immediate evacuation, we've shaken the hornet's nest." The pilot answered in a calm voice. "Roger that Sierra Two Forty-four, moving in for extraction."


	5. Spooks

Chapter 5

February 2543

Jacob sat shotgun in the warthog being driven to one of ONI's many seemingly important bases, placed throughout the colonies. This one on Reach, reminded him of the planet Onyx, his home. Where he had become a Spartan.

_2536_

_Jacob had watched Fred and Sim arrive twenty minutes late and still beat his squad by ten. Jacob had misfired a four shots and was informed that he was not qualified to be a Sniper. "Dammit!" he thought. He was being scripted into basic infantry. "If I could just have another shot at it!" "No, I was placed in a squad to suit my strong points, if that's where Mendez says I should go, that's where I belong"._

_2536-2538_

_Immediately after the augmentations Jacob formed a close relationship with fellow Spartan Rachel. They were both placed in Green team and after two successful missions, one taking a Covenant held UNSC ship to it's grave and the other being highly classified, Green team was being sent to Reach for a technology upgrade. On their way their freighter, _Cairo's Soul_ came into contact with a Covenant corvette. All of the ship's escape pods were destroyed, except for one, which held Green Team. _

_As the nearby UNSC frigate _Autumn's Run_ was on route to destroy the corvette and rescue the survivors, the pod was hit with a stray archer missile that had come from the former _Cairo's Soul_. Jacob remembered this event clearly. _

_August 2538_

"_Stand down Jake, we can't do anything now but sit and wait." "Yes sir". Jacob allowed himself to relax. Zero gravity felt nice every once in a while. Rachel shot him a suggestive glance that brought him back to the night before in the changing rooms of _Cairo's Soul. _Jacob looked at her breathlessly. He motioned for her to come closer and whispered into her ear so no one else could hear "You were amazing." "Not so bad yourself" she giggled. "You know Ray, I think I'm in lo-" Jacob's response was cut short by Mike frantically telling everyone that a stray Archer Missile was headed straight for them. Everyone strapped into their seats and held on. Their small ship had used up all it's fuel just getting away from the Corvette, now it had none left to evade the missile. _

_Rachel was sitting next to Jacob with her hand wrapped tightly around his. Her grip was so strong, Jake had actually felt pain on his palm through his SPI armor…_

February 2543

"Sir, we've reached the destination". "Yes Corporal, that will be all". Jacob stepped out of the Warthog and heard the Corporal speed away faster than was regulation. No one liked to be near a building full of spooks.

As Jacob walked towards the sealed blast door ahead of him, an unmarked man walked up to him and asked for his orders. Jacob thrust the papers forward, taking an immediate disliking to the man's lazy stance. "Alright sir, you're clear to go inside." Jake said nothing, but merely walked forward as the blast doors slid open and stepped inside. Jacob heard the hiss of the doors closing behind him, but he didn't bother to look, he had been in this very facility once before after he had been assigned, along with four of his comrades, to Sabre team.

That was when they received their Semi Powered Infiltration Armor Mark II. An upgrade from the standard model, he wore one now, though this was the third suit he had obtained during his time in Sabre team. Jacob followed the path he had taken years before. He walked straight down corridor E4, saluted a passing Colonel, and came up to a blank white wall, except for a small patch of glassy black on the right hand side. Jacob once again removed his helmet and stared directly at the black patch. Suddenly, a ray of blue light shot out of the space and ran over his facial features and eyes.

A synthetic voice spoke to him "Clearance granted, this way please". The a thin black line appeared at the until-then seamless wall, and the two pieces of the wall slid apart without a sound.

Jacob took two steps forward. An unranked, old man that was large and muscular stared up at him. He almost met the tall Spartan's eyes. He spoke with a surprisingly soft voice once the door had once again sealed itself. "Jacob, nice to see once again." The last time Jacob had seen this man, he was sixteen years old. He saluted "Chief Mendez, sir!" Mendez motioned for him to set down his arm. "No need for the formalities, besides I should be the one saluting you, sir." Jacob felt a strangeness at the respect Mendez had given to him. He had never thought of himself as superior to his old mentor.

"But Jacob, if you would please follow me, they are waiting for us". As he stepped into the circular, white walled room, he saw around fifteen men and women seated around a circular table.

Some looked to be almost one hundred years old, and others seemed to be no less than twenty. Though Jacob did not know these people, he knew they commanded great respect, being of various armed services, they were all extremely far up in the chain of command. Jacob instinctively raised his right hand in a salute. An elderly woman seeming to be about eighty spoke to him with a surprisingly powerful voice that commanded respect "No need for formalities here Spartan, take your seat". She motioned towards two empty chairs in front of them.

Jacob and Mendez took their seats, and the woman spoke again "Now that everyone is in attendance, we can begin. As many of you know, and some of you not" she motioned to Jacob "We are here today to discuss the future funding of the Spartan program. Ladies and gentleman, today we will change decide the limits of the program, it's future applications, if any and it's budget size, if any."

Jacob was not sure if he had heard the woman correctly. "Excuse me, mam?" The woman appeared to have been expecting this "Yes, Jacob?" He felt all eyes upon him. "Did you say the future applications of the program, if any? That would mean the termination of the Spartan project correct?" "Yes, it would" she said plainly. "Would you like to address the committee? "If I may?" She nodded to him.

Jacob spoke with passion "To all here, if you have been considering the termination of the Spartan program, you have been fools". A little less than half of the men and women became visibly annoyed with him. The elderly woman beamed at him. This had been her purpose all along. "The success of the Spartan project has been the greatest of the UNSC's victories against the Covenant!" A man about fifty years old wearing the insignia of an Admiral upon his chest stood up "A success that has been much too costly! Even with the budget cuts proposed by Colonel Ackerson" he motioned to the man across from him, "the Spartan project's budge has still gone over by almost thirty percent! We could be using that funding to build Navy ships to-" The man named as Colonel Ackerson spoke "Ships that would have been useless without the success of operation of Operation PROMETHEUS!" The man backed down.

Jacob felt a sudden tightness engulf him. Operation PROMETHEUS. Where nearly ninety percent of his fellow Alpha company Spartans had been wiped from existence. "No," he thought "He still remebered them. Every Spartan who knew them remebered them." They would live on forever. Jacob glanced down at Mendez. No one lese at the table could tell, but he was on the verge of bursting into tears. Jacob didn't blame him.

The debate continues for three more days until a decision had been made, The budget of the Spartan project had been _increased_by ****. All active Spartan III's were to be issued with Semi Powered infiltration Armor Mark III within in three months, and research on the Mark V set of Armor for the Spartan II's would be continued.

Jacob felt that the upgrade had been well earned by Sabre team. By all of the Spartans.


	6. Memories and Romance

Chapter 6

Something had happened, he could tell, the same look was in their face during their last year of training.

_2536_

_That year they had grown close. Often times Fred would meet up with Allison after dark, but more and more Sim declined to go with him. Fred and Alison knew that they had feelings for each other by this time, but they didn't know how to act on them, having had no idea what their affection meant, or could lead to. They knew that a relationship was against the rules and could impede on them completing their training. Thus, they had both agreed that they would have to put their feelings aside, until the war was won. _

_Fred had just finished his daily shooting practice with Sim, and was in the showers just finishing up and wrapping a towel around him when, Alison entered and flushed beat red. "Oh, Fred I… "Don't play games with me Alice, you knew I was going to be here." Alison knew where he was going to be every second of the day. "Well yes, but I thought you would have been dressed by now" she replied nervously and quickly. "Turn around" he told her. She did. He clothed himself. "Okay, I'm decent." Alison turned around to face him again. He was now wearing a regulation white T-shirt and jogging shorts. Fred may have only been fourteen, but he had the body of an eighteen year old Olympic medalist. They all did. She spoke._

"_Fred I know we agreed not to have a relationship, but the end of training is only a five months away and-" "That makes it even more important for us to stay apart". She was irritated by Fred's interruption "I know Fred but, I've been doing some research into the life expectancies of us compared to the original Spartans" "Doing research" he thought with laugh "more like hacking into Mendez's computer" something she had become adept at. "And?" he said out loud. Her face grew somber "They expect ninety percent of us to be dead two years from now." Fred suddenly felt sick. "But that means, we aren't going to…" he trailed off . "No," she said "We probably won't live to see the end of the war, we have to make the most of time we have now". Fred replied "You know if that's true, chances are we won't see each other again once we finish training"._

_And with that he leaned towards her, and their lips met, in a blaze of passion, for the first, but not the last time. When they finally pulled apart it had seemed like hours. Alison solemnly said goodbye to Fred and headed back to her quarters. Before leaving Fred made a silent pact to himself, "If she's ever in danger, I'll get her to safety no matter the cost." _

_As their final year together grew shorter and shorter Fred and Alison tried to spend as much time as they could together. Almost every second of their free time was spent alone. Though things never went past kissing._

_2536, Last week of training before augmentations. _

_Fred was missing the sniper team assessment. Sim was angrily searching for him throughout the base. "He had better have an important reason for this". Twenty minutes late for the assessment, Sim had found them, in the barrack's storage closet, arms wrapped in each other's arms, their lips together, hands under clothing. "What the hell Fred!" They instantly became aware of his presence and stopped what they were doing. "Fred I don't care about the reasons for this but we need to go now!" Fred looked to be readying a retort but Alison grabbed his arm "Just go, I'll see you later" . "Sure Allie". Fred shot Sim an angry glance and then they both ran to the firing range. _

_Despite being twenty minutes late and having to run the entire obstacle course far behind the other teams, Fred and Sim had placed 1__st__ in the accuracy test, and 4__th__ overall. There were ten teams. Mendez had hollered "If you had gotten your asses here on time, you could have beaten the other teams by a longshot! But it seems Fred here was occupied…" Mendez shot a tempered look at Frederick "…with something far more important!" "Yes sir I was!" "Do you want to tell me what that was!" "No sir!". Mendez gave a respectful grunt, and congratulated them both on passing._

_Later that night in there quarters Fred and Sim were still arguing. "What the HELL Fred! Is she more important to you than becoming a Spartan?" The rage filled fourteen year old stared at his friend with piercing eyes. "Yes" Fred calmly answered. The anger drained from Sim. He broke out into an uncontrollable laughter and when he was finished said seriously "I sure as hell hope she's important after the way you talked to Mendez." "Yeah I was scared to death, I thought he was gonna wipe the floor with me!" _

_Fred had not known it. Until some thirty years later he never knew. Alison had stayed in that storage closet. She had listened to Fred and Sim argue. After that she knew. She never doubted him. She was more important to him than being a Spartan, the one thing they had been training for practically all of their lives. He loved her. _

_Little did Fred know, that would be a comfort later on. Knowing she loved him, even while they were apart._


	7. Strategies of the Victor

Chapter 7

March 15th 2543

All eight Spartans of Sabre team were in the ONI lab on the planet Reach, the UNSC's military powerhouse.

Jacob had gotten his new suit of armor a few days before the rest of team, and was busy on the range testing out it's capabilities. It utilized a new technology known as energy shields. There were advantages and disadvantages to this technology. It was not nearly as effective as the MJOLINOR Mark III armor that was used by Spartan II's, the older Spartan's armor could easily take five times as much damage before taking any bodily damage. But it used primitive energy shielding which could not take as much straight on fire as the MJOLINOR systems, but if the user stayed in cover after being hit, their shields would recharge, therefore damage to the armor itself was little to none. Without the need to replace armor systems, the scientists could focus more of the project's budget on developing new systems, instead of replacing the old.

Every Spartan obtained a suit of armor specific to their needs as a team. Fred and Sim got advanced camouflage systems and visor enhancements of night vision, heat vision, and so on.

Steven obtained a lager version of the Armor that had decreased mobility, but increased shield and armor capacity. Etc.

Each Spartan had tried out there new armor systems at the testing range. So far, they were completely satisfied with their abilities in these new suits. They even tried some sparring with each other, and were careful not to damage the polymer hardened steel that made up the outsides of the armor. Though, the shields were a little hard to get used to. They were centered on the Head, chest, groin, and the four limbs. Fred had found the shields too slippery on the bottom of his boots, and had turned down the shield capacity in that area. The other Spartans made their adjustments as well. Soon the armor was personalized to suit the owners techniques and fighting style. Not far from then, the Spartans of Sabre team would have an opportunity to see just what the limits of these new suits were.

March 2543

Sabre team was on board the UNSC frigate _Titan Within_ in slipspace, bound toward a Covenant held moon on the edge of UNSC controlled space. The Spartans of Sabre team weren't the only ones on board, over two hundred marines were also onboard. It was under the command of by Commander Edward Monroe, who had been informed of the urgency of this mission, and had set out with his crew only three days after the orders from Fleetcom had reached him.

The Spartans of Sabre team had stowed their Armor in their quarters for the majority of the trip, which would take three and a half weeks to a month.

Steven was sparring with James in the ring. Though James had the advantage in experience, at eight feet three inches gave Steven an almost two foot height advantage, along with his massive arm and leg muscles. James thrust his right foot into Steven's chest as Steven moved his arms to block his James' kick and swerved his left foot into James' ankle. James moved his weight to his left foot and thrust himself backwards effectively out of harm. Steven blinked for less than half of a second to get rid of the sweat in his eyes, and when he opened them James was close, too close to block. James was standing on one foot with the other in a kicking motion, he froze in this stance with his foot one inch from Steven's temple. Neither Spartan moved for a few seconds until James spoke "You're a dead man" . Both Spartans immediately broke their stances and shook hands. Steven spoke

"Man James, I don't know how you can move that quick". Jacob materialized next to him. "James always was the best at hand to hand combat". Steven looked at the recently buzzed hair of his Commander. "Looks like you got a haircut sir". Jacob silently laughed to himself. Steven constantly shaved his face and head, and always managed to put in a comment about anyone who did have hair. "Maybe you'd like to prove yourself in the ring with me rookie?" The Commander joked. "No problem sir, say tomorrow at 0900?" "I'll see you there rookie". Steven headed for the showers near the sparring ring as he heard Fred and the Commander engaging in hand to hand combat behind him. Steven was about to reach for the door when it was opened from the other side. Alison walked out of the door.

Steven noticed, however that she was almost completely dry. She had gotten water on herself, but obviously had not taken a shower. Also, Alison had seemed embarrassed when she saw him, and had quickly walked away. This was only the second time he had seen Alison with her helmet off, due to her and Fred leaving on a Classified ONI Operation two weeks before he joined and had returned a little more than two months ago.

She had hair two inches longer than regulation allowed, ridiculous. Her green eyes stared past him towards the exit. She was smaller than him as everyone was, only six feet four inches, average height for a Spartan. Steven stepped through the still open door into the shower room and saw a man he did not recognize stepping out of the shower and wrapping a towel around his waist. From his muscular form Steven could tell he was a Spartan.

"That you Fred?" "Yeah, Steven right?" "Yep" The two men shook hands. "I noticed Alice…" he trailed off. Fred replied nervously "Oh umm… Look, I know we just met formally and all but do you mind…?" "You're secret's safe with me, Sim told me you were a good man, so I'll take his word for it". Fred nodded towards the younger Spartan, slipped into a standard navy uniform and walked out of the shower room.

He would have to talk with Allie to let her know what had happened.

Zach sat in his quarters and stared at the board below him. The game had been around for over one thousand years and yet still it was popular among the Spartans, most others had not even heard of the game, let alone known how to play it. Sim and himself had been engaged in this particular game for three hours, and it was turning out to be a short game. Zach had taken three pawns and a knight, while Simeral had captured two of Zach's pawns. Ever since joining the team a year and a half before, no one was able to defeat Zachary at the game. Only one member of the team had refused to play Zachary on the grounds that he did not want to end Zach's winning streak.

Fred entered the room, sat down by Sim and surveyed the board for several minutes. Finally he said "How about we finally get to playing that game?" Zach was confident "And I suppose you're going to beat me?" "I am". Sim moved aside and offered Fred his seat. "This isn't really fair you're starting off with a disadvantage, I've taken more pieces". Fred retorted "Then the odds are against you."

Seven moves and six minutes later, Fred spoke to Zach again "Are you sure you don't want to back out now?" "Don't worry Fred, it'll all be over soon." "I know it will" Fred spoke back quickly, he moved his queen. "Checkmate." Zachary stood indifferent, then after a few seconds of evaluation looked stunned. "How did you do that in seven moves?" "I studied everyone else playing you and realized that you think sixteen moves ahead, always. So, I thought twenty-six moves ahead and couldn't find a way to beat you. So I dropped it back to seven moves. In short, you look too far ahead to see sudden, less complicated moves." Fred stood up left, left Zach's quarters, and headed down the hallway towards the mess hall.


	8. A Noble Decision

Chapter 8

March 2543

Fred stepped through the mess hall door. He spotted Alison sitting on the far end of the farthest table. Fred got into line and picked up a tray of rations, and two apples he had gotten from Zach, with no idea where he got them. He sat down across from her, and they ate in a comfortable silence for a few minutes. Fred spotted Zach and Sim entering the room. Zach was talking a mile-a-minute while Sim silently took in all he had to say.

They sat down next to Fred and Alison, and began to indulge in their rations, as well as a few more apples Zach seemed to pull from nowhere. It was an unwritten rule of Sabre team to eat in silence. A rule even Zach obeyed. If something was said at the table it was important. Zach thought something was important "Those guys are looking for a fight". He motioned to the table behind Alice and Fred.

A group of ODST specialists had gathered together and were acting rowdy. When the Spartans looked their way their previously loud voices lowered to a whisper. Alison stood up, and walked over to their table.

"Is there a problem gentlemen?" A large burly man who stood high enough to meet her eye met her gaze. "Well mam, there is one thing missing in the room." "What would that be, Sergeant?" Without a word the man spun around, grabbed a metal eating tray, and swung it towards her head. She brought up her hand so quick that he hadn't even seen what happened, and was bewildered when he suddenly found himself thrown onto the table behind him.

"Next time think before you attack a superior officer, or any Spartan". The Spartans swiftly got up and put their trays into the dispersing unit. They smiled at the and finger signs thrown at them as they laft the mass hall.

As they exited the mess hall, Fred watched Vivian enter it. "I feel sorry for those guys" he thought with a chuckle. Fred heard insults coming from the men and then a scream of intense pain. Viv had no mercy.

Vivian washed the blood off of her knuckels, and proceeded to wipe off her boots as well. One of those men had a shattered kneecap, and another a broken jaw and nose. The others had been too frightened to even meet her gaze. She shook her head "What kind of fool pulls a comabt knife on a Spartan and expects to get out unharmed?" As she entered Zach's quarters a little later, she saw that he and Sim were still going at that game. It had now been six hours. She grew annoyed at the smirk on Zach's face. She still wondered at the Commanders choice to put Zach as second in command. Sure, he was a brilliant strategist, but he was undisciplined, cocky, and inexperienced. In her opinion James would have made a much better choice.

As she sat down she studied Zach more closely, nonchalant, easy going, inexperienced. She resented him. He was a Spartan and she wiuld die in battle to save him, but off the battlefield there were as different as it gets. After twenty minutes without a move, her patience grew short. That was why she could never paly the game, too long, too strategic, required too much patience. A frontal assault was usually her first choice of action. A time later Sim moved and with an arrogant expression on his face Zach spoke "Checkma-" Vivian unsheathed her kukri and threw it firmly at Zachary. He raised his arms in protection but quickly realized, by his decapitated King figure, that the knife had not been aimed at him. He stared at Vivi in confusion. "Guess that's one game you won't be winning, huh?" Sim erupted into laughter. That actually startled Vivi, it was hard enough to get any reaction out of Simeral, let alone get him to show_ emotion. _Except when Frederick was around, he was always more social when Fred was there.

It was now Sabre team's third day in slipspace and the entire crew, save the men and women on the bridge. Sabre's Spartans, all Spartans were used to this kind of treatment within the UNSC. Though some thought of them as war heroes, most kept their distance from them. That day, Zachary approached Fred several times with the question of a rematch, and each time he refused.

Alison wore a white t-shirt and black shorts that fit tightly. Standard sparring equipment. She sat in the corner of the empty gym, in the shadows. She liked being unseen. The metal door slid open with a hiss. Fred walked in, and stared at the seemingly empty dark corner. "Are we going to do this, or are you just going to hide in the dark?" Alison smiled as she walked out into the open. Not even her stealthy skills could fool his keen eyes. His eyes. Green with a swirl design upon them. It brought her back to the last night she had seen his eyes before they were permanently changed. They were deep and beautiful now but before they had been perfect…

_2536, The night before the augmentations._

_They lay in the soft grass just outside Camp Curahee. Normally, Mendez would send patrols to look for them, but tonight he let it go. Tomorrow some of them might not be alive. This could be their last chance to speak to one another. They weren't the only ones out either. Many Spartans had snuck out to be with their friends. But Alice and Fred were more than friends. As they lay there in a comfortable silence, Alison broke it "Fred, if I don't make it…"_

_She put her hand on his. "Don't say that, you'll make it, there's no question". "Thanks" she replied happily, but not reassured. "You know Fred, if, I mean when we get through this, we'll probably never see each other again". Fred faced the ugly, horrifying truth she had brought up. He had pondered it for hours before, and he had only one solution. Fred spoke softly "Then we better make the best of our time, and pray for more of it". Alison rested her head on his chest. She listened to him breathing, wondering if she would ever hear it again. "Fred?" He replied groggily "Yeah?" Seeing that he was still awake and without his permission, she kissed like never before. She stared into his deep green eyes. Eyes like the ocean, the stars. An unexplored paradise she had only glimpsed. _

_Then she did something she had done only once before. Tracing her finger across his brow she asked "Fred, where did you get the scar across your eye?"_

"_Why?" "If this is our last night, I want to know everything about you that I don't already". "Would you like to remember this instead?" Their lips met in a fiery passion. "Yes" she breathed to him. _

March 2543

Alison shifted back to the present. Fred's eyes bore into her as they both stepped into the sparring ring. Fred was confident he would win the fight. He knew her fighting style, and though she knew his as well, he fought unconventionally, in an unpredictable pattern. Alison knew exactly what Fred's first move would be even before he had entered the room.

They bowed, and Fred started things off with a spin kick towards her right temple. She had been anticipating this and had deflected it with little effort. Then, she threw a straight punch at his stomach, distraction so that she could bring her left foot on him, but she never had to. Her distraction blow had not been blocked like she had expected it to, and landed dead center in his abdomen. Fred grabbed her arm and pinned her against the wall.

"How's this for unconventional?" he asked as he kissed her. They stayed like that for a long time. How long they didn't care, they shut out almost all of there surroundings. Almost. Alison faintly heard the sound of the metallic gym door hissing open and thrust Fred away. He immediately understood and walked over to the bench press. Alison quickly turned on the tread mill and began running. To the two marines who had just entered, it seemed as though the recent activity had not occurred, and they went about their normal business.

Steven sat in his room wondering about Fred and Alice. Had this started on their five month mission together? Or perhaps earlier? Steven doubted that it had occurred during training, every Spartan knew duty came above all else, and he had been under the impression that Sabre team was their first permanent squad together, so it must have been on the recent classified mission they took. "Well," he thought "as long as it doesn't happen in combat, what harm can it do?"

James and Jacob were having a conversation in the latter's quarters. "So what are you gonna do about them Jake?" Zach may have been second in command, but he had formed an unbreakable bond with James, them being the two veterans of Sabre team. "I'm not sure James, part of me says to split them up, because they could compromise the rest of the squad. But part of me…" he trailed off. "Sir?" Jacob was too lost in his memories to hear James.

_August 2538_

_Her grip was so strong, Jacob felt pain through his SPI armor. Mike assessed the situation. "It looks like a stray Archer missile from the _Cairo's Soul_ is heading for us. There is a ninety-four percent chance that it will hit us on the port side of the ship." The Spartans of Green team fastened themselves into the seats on either side of the small craft. "If your armor takes no direct hits, you will have twenty-seven minutes of oxygen before you suffocate." The words rang in his mind like cold, hard, steel. Harold's voice interrupted the silence. "We've got thirty seconds to impact. Jacob noticed that his helmet had a crack in the visor. It must have happened during the evacuation of _Cairo's Soul. _Harold seemed to read his mind. "Don't worry Jake, this is what I've been trained for. Though I always thought I'd go out in a heroic last stand". Jacob managed to croak "Goodbye". Harold removed his helmet, smiled, and sat down in the pilot's chair, awaiting death. _

_Rachel held his hand tighter. Suddenly, Jacob was thrown into a confusion as flames engulfed his vision. He spotted a piece of shrapnel spinning, or was it him that was spinning? It was impossible to tell in space. As they flew by each other, he grabbed onto it, and held on. Shortly after, he found himself scanning his environment. Hoping to see the shape of one of his teamates. Then he spotted it. A flash of brown. Her armor was brown. Jacob's heart filled with hope. He planted his feet on the object and pushed off. Too late he realized that his momentum was not great enough to catch up to the drifting Spartan, as she was also moving, though in a different direction. Then he recalled something his mentor had said about momentum and zero gravity combat. _

_Remembering this, he grabbed for his sidearm, which was miraculously still attached to his hip, thanks to magnetic holders. Jacob pointed the weapon in the opposite direction he wanted to go, and fired three rounds. He was almost instantly lauched towards the other Spartan. As they collided, Jacob gripped her with all of his strength. Then hope drained from his body, replaced with shock. The breastplate had been pierced by shrapnel, and the faceplate was shattered. "No!" Nothing he could have experienced before could ever have prepared him for this. _

_She was gone. The woman he loved lay dead before his eyes. He had never told her how he felt. No, she knew. She knew he loved her. Still, he grieved. He wished she could have gotten the pleasure of hearing him say the words. He would die here, with her. The chance of survival was so slim that he had decided to embrace her, in his last moments. In the end, Jacob prayed, something he had never done before. He prayed there was a God, and that Rachel was in another place now, watching him. He spoke aloud now, even if she couldn't hear him "I love you Rachel, I just wish you could have lived to see it". _

March 2543

"Sir?" "We're not going to do anything James". "Nothing sir?" "Yes." He knew what it felt like to be torn away from the one you loved. Fred and Alison had endured seperation for years. He would not force them back into that hell, the hell he faced every day.


	9. Honor and Joy, in Death

Chapter 9

March 2543

Commander Monroe looked upon his bridge crew. No one except he and the Spartans knew the true danger of the journey ahead. With only seventy-two hours until they came out of slipsace, this might be the last time he would be able to have a peace of mind. The Captain tried to enjoy it. He thought of his daughter and wife back home. His family. That only made him resentful he had ever taken the mission.

Captain Monroe had called a meeting among the bridge members to inform them of the actual situation, not the cover-up they had been told. "Ladies and Gentlemen," he began "I am aware that some of you may know of the situation, but most do not. I am here to tell you that the orders we are seemingly under are a hoax." Hushed whispers circled through his audience. "The real reason we came here, is to assist Sabre team in the recovery or destruction from the A.I., Jerard, on board the UNSC _Gorbachev. _This Frigate-class vessel has crash landed on the moon KM-17 and it's crew is suspected to be deceased. However, it seems that the ship's A.I. has survived the attack". Confused looks appeared on the bridge crew "Yes, the _Gorbachev _was forced into a crash land by the Covenant. Now, the reason we are going after this A.I. is that we have strong evidence that suggests that when the Captain of the ship ordered Jerard to wipe the ship's memory bank, the A.I. refused, and transferred all data to itself. I'll let Sharon take you from here." A blue holographic woman took shape in front of them. "As the Commander said, we have a possibly rampant A.I. with exceedingly important information pertaining the navigational knowledge of how to travel to every colony in the UNSC, including Reach, and Earth". The crew members were stunned. "Here is our plan of action…"

The Spartans were at ready on the flight deck. Jacob lay in the bay of a Pelican dropship, watching the others. Every one of them appeared much more dangerous in their SPI armor, and they were. Zach, Steven, and James were sitting at a table exchanging war stories, and Zach was currently going on about his near escape from a platoon of Covenant infantry. Sim and Vivian both had chairs in the corner and were debating the possibility of more alien species not known to the UNSC. Fred and Alison had their own table, and were having a quiet discussion that was just loud enough to hear their voices, but soft enough so that he could not understand the words being said.

Jacob looked back to the table with three of his Spartans, whistled, and motioned for Zach to come over. The younger, sleeker Spartan walked up to Jacob and asked "What is it Jake?" Jacob hesitated, and then with confidence said "Zach, if I don't make it through this mission…" "Sir, don't say that-" Jacob spoke again, irritated "Damn it Zach you know just as well as I do that some of us might not come back on this mission". Zach listened intently now "Look, if I die out there, promise me you'll make sure to get them out alive, even if it means disobeying direct orders." Zach paused, unsure if he had heard Jacob correctly, then said "I promise". Jacob sighed with relief. "Is that all sir?" Zach seemed eager to get back to his story. "Yeah, go ahead".

Jacob then focused his attention on Alice and Fred. Which one? He pondered this choice for a while, then came to a conclusion. "Fred, come here will you?" Fred looked up from his love, then said "Yes sir". Fred sat up and nonchalantly walked to the Commander. Jacob motioned to the seat in the Pelican's bay across from him, and Fred sat down. "Sir what is this about?" Jacob looked at Fred with soft eyes. The man he had resented so long ago for his superior marksman abilities. The man who had become his friend. "Let's drop the formality for this one Fred" Jacob said with a commanding voice that reminded him heavily of the old woman at the ONI conference. Fred shrugged and leaned back into his seat. "What's this about Jake?" "Alison." he began "you care about her?" Fred acted casually "Of course, I'd risk my life for any of the Spa-" "Don't bullshit me Fred." Jacob snapped "I've seen you two, it's obvious what's going on". "Fred removed his helmet and narrowed his eyes "Don't think you can split us apart". Jacob spoke unaltered "Don't be stupid Fred, I know you'd kill me before I could give the order". Fred grinned. "Damn right I would, what is this about anyway?" "Protect her" Jacob said seriously. "What?" Fred was confused, didn't Jacob know he would anything to protect Alison? "I said protect her, from anything." "Will do" said Fred, still bewildered. Before going back to Alison he said "Is it that obvious what we've been doing?" Jacob chuckled, "Let's just say I've seen it before".

**Fleet Admiral Brown to Commander Jerry Monroe**

**Battleplans for Operation Wildcat**

**Phase One: The company of two hundred marines and ODST's will assault the North side of the downed carrier. It is heavily assumed to be a stronghold for Covenant forces. **

**Phase Two: Sabre team will split into two groups after their infiltration specialist enters the ship and opens the bay doors on the South end of the craft. **

**Phase Three: Sabre team will split into two teams. Team One will plant a nuclear warhead in the reactor of the ship, while team two enters the bridge, retains the A.I. or destroys it's vital information.**

**Phase Four: Sabre team regroups and meets at a designated evacuation point, and is extracted by Pelican. Frigates **_**Gettysburg **_**and**_** Charles II**_** will arrive by slipspace to assist **_**Titan Within**_** in eliminating remaining Covenant forces. **

**Phase Five: Infantry is extracted to frigates and Nuclear Warhead is detonated, destroying any remaining information or evidence of the project. **

Alison crouched in the jungle underforest. A clearing ahead had been identified as the crash site of the _Gorbachev. _There was a breach in it's titanium hull, guarded by an Elite and four grunts. Alison was contemplating if her silenced assault rifle and handgun would have enough ammunition to take them out when explosion and gunfire sounded to the North. The Elite yelled to his grunts and the entire squad took off in that direction. Before they could send a replacement squad to guard the opening, she sprinted to it, and quietly slipped inside.

The rest of Sabre team was quietly waiting on the South end of the _Gorbachev _where there were two squads of Covenant. Two Elites, four jackals, and six grunts. An easy task for Sabre. Fred and Sim were both in large trees surveying the area, while the rest of the team was directly below them in the bushes. Jacob gave the signal and within an instant four shots rang out, followed quickly by another four. Fred and Sim fired so closely in sync, that if Jacob hadn't seen eight hostiles fall he would've believed that there was only one sniper in the trees.

The rest of Sabre team rained fire upon the remaining enemies and by the second volley of sniper rounds, no Covenant were left standing.

Jacob gave the signal to move forward and the entire team moved into the open clearing by the large bay doors.

Alison moved stealthily down the dark, slim, metallic corners. She heard footsteps ahead and slipped into an electrical closet that was shrouded in darkness. She could tell from the sound it was a small group of three, but didn't want to risk engagement if it wasn't necessary.

Fi-yap trudged down the dark, alien corridor. There were no circular surfaces in sight and he struggled on the hard, flat ground. The two Unggoy ahead of him were from another battle group, and he had yet to learn their names. Though the one in charge, seemed nice enough. They were on patrol, it seems some squads at the rear of the alien vessel had missed their check in. Normally, Fi-yap would have left during the patrol, and found a nice place to nap. But, these orders had come from an Sangheili, the highest being in the Covenant save the San 'Shyuum. Fi-yap knew if he tried to escape duty now, he would be brutally executed.

The lead Unggoy stopped. His eyes searched a small dark room that to Fi-yap, looked empty. Suddenly an alien hand flew out of the shadowy room and entered the leader's skull. Fi-yap's remaining comrade lifted his plasma pistol to fire at the unknown threat, and fell dead to the floor after Fi-yap heard what sounded like a hiss come from the room. He knew that sound. The aliens could put a small straw on their weapons and they would be silent as the wind.

Alison had eliminated the first two grunts with a punch to the skull and a shot from her suppressed M6G, and now the third was retreating down the hallway screaming bloody murder. She put three well placed shots into its back, and just to be sure, planted a fourth in its skull. Alison continued down the hallways again, this time without incident. When she reached the bay doors, and found the control panel, she began the complicated process of trying to rid it of shrapnel and debris.

Jacob and the rest of Sabre team were pinned down by the outer bay doors of the _Gorbachev. _Two spirit dropships had landed and were dropping in combat troops. Now, they were surrounded by three dozen Covenant with little cover and lots of plasma. Jacob was yelling now "Dammit Alice, we don't have a few minutes, the door needs to be opened now!" "Alright sir, but a premature opening will cause the control panel to be useless-" "Then we'll find another way out, just get the damn door open!" A large rumbling could be heard behind Sabre team as the door slid open. The Spartans quickly ran inside and Alison closed the door behind them.

"Sir, we're going to have to extract through sector seven charlie" Alison said. Jacob said "Copy that, Zach you're in charge of team two. No comm traffic from here on out, we can't risk tapping into our signal. We'll meet you at sector seven charlie in forty minutes. If we're more than ten minutes late, go without us." Zach spoke "Yes sir." He motioned to Alison, Fred, and James. "Let's get moving".

Jacob and team one were heading for the _Gorbachev's_ reactor to plant a nuclear charge, effectively clearing out any useful information the Covenant could acquire from the ship. Team two were going to the bridge. Once there, they would contact the ship's A.I. and either destroy it or extract it. Then the two teams would meet at the extraction point for evac.

Zachary and team two had fought through two squads of Jackals on their way to the bridge. Now, they were twenty meters away from the hatch that led them there. Zach gave them hand signals only a Spartan could understand, and Alison crept forward. At the entrance to the bridge, she withdrew a small metallic cord and fed it through the door. Zach gave more signals to the team. There were six elites and twice as many grunts. Alison withdrew the cord, and armed a grenade as the rest of team two readied their weapons.

Team one had made it to the reactor room without incident. Vivian was now applying the nuclear charge that would cause the reactor to detonate, destroying the ship and everything within a six hundred kilometer radius.

Jacob, Sim, and Steven had taken up guard positions at the single doorway in the room. Jacob trained his rifle on the entrance while the other two watched the several vents that could serve as possible entrances to their enemies. Jacob knew that now was the worst time, but he found his thoughts drifting to Rachel. He couldn't keep himself from imagining her face. Flawless, beautiful, perfect. Nothing in the world could- Jacob was torn from his dream by a large, low, pounding noise. He looked forward to see a gigantic blue figure just a few feet from him. He raise his rifle to fire...

Team two had successfully cleared the bridge. Fred approached to the lone Covenant survivor, a crimson Elite, as he bled onto the floor of the deck. The Elite stared at him with hateful eyes. Fred drew his sidearm, and placed it into in it's mouth, in between it's four mandibles. The creature weakly placed it's hand on the weapon. Fred removed the barrel from the alien and waited for it to react.

The Elite growled in a foreign language, and then placed it's head back, ready to accept death. Fred again placed the weapon to it's head, and fired splattering skull fragments and violet blood across the deck. Alison placed her hand on his shoulder, "Why?" Fred turned his head and looked at her. "I know he would do the same for me". She nodded, then focused on the task at hand.

An image of a withered old man in monk robes appeared out of the bridge's A.I. port. Alison removed her helmet and greeted him with a hearty smile. "Hello Jerard, I am the specialist charged with your protection. I if may, I would like to-" The old man spoke "Remove me from the _Gorbachev_ and transport me to the waiting Prowler that I am sure is orbiting this moon? I think not Lieutenant Alison A091. I believe I will be much more comfortable in this location."

Alison said "Jerard, I am sure you are concerned with your personal safety, but I assure you that the UNSC believes the information you hold is of vital importance and will certainly hold it's value-" Jerard had suddenly adopted an enraged look on his face "Do not play games with me Alison! I realize what you are trying to do and I can certainly recognize a fake, unrealistic emotion!" Alison immediately dropped the cheerful façade and said back at the A.I. "Well, if you refuse to come with us, I suppose we'll have to destroy the ship, and you with it." The A.I. responded to the threat with a sadistic smile. "Well, seeing as I will be destroyed either way, I might as well destroy my killers in the process." Suddenly, a red light accompanied by a blaring alarm met the Spartans. Fred fired his handgun into the A.I. port, even knowing this would do no harm to the A.I. Alison looked at him in confusion. Then he said quietly so only she could hear him "I just couldn't let that son of a bitch talk to my love like that."

As Jacob saw the blue armored hulk in front of him raise it's right arm, he knew it was over. He knew it was all over. He could have fought, wounded the Hunter in front of him so that his squad mates might have a chance to kill it. But, in his last moments on Earth Jacob chose to have some time for himself. He gave himself time to reflect. On his life. His team. His training. His love. Rachel. Death. All went by in less than a blink of an eye. He had just enough time to watch the green mass flying towards him. Then, knowing what his remaining life could do, he shifted his position to catch the mass in his chest. Though his death was certain now, he could drift away with the thought that he had saved one of the few things left in this world that mattered to him, his team.

Jacob felt himself being thrown across the room and impacting something. Something hard. Then, closing his eyes he drifted off not knowing whether he was dying or falling unconscious, but being ready for either.

Zach and team two had reached the extraction point directly outside of Alison's entry point twenty minutes earlier and the pilot was hovering ten meters above them in his Pelican. Zach was flashing the hand signal to wait towards the ship above. Then, hearing gunfire and plasma, Zach turned to see a Sim and Steven covering Vivian who was carrying an unconscious Jacob. They were being pursued by several alien warriors hell bent on destroying the humans they were following.

Zach and the rest of team two immediately opened fire on the hostiles, giving team one enough time to advance to their position. While still holding off the Covenant, Zach signaled the Pelican to land. The pilot dropped his bird down to five meters, and fired several missiles at the hostiles, then continued it's descent until it was low enough for the Spartans to board. As Vivian stepped into the Pelican, James asked her "What happened to him?". She placed Jacob on the floor of the dropship and said "Hunter caught him off guard". James watched as Vivian emptied a new canister of biofoam into his friend. "How bad?" James asked as the Pelican lifted into the air. She responded with a sullen tone "Very".

The Pelican roared through the air, and as the dropship doors sealed shut, James knew that they had lost too much today.

Jacob heard the sound of Pelican engines starting, and felt the sensation of being lifted into the air. He listened to James and Vivian talking about him. "How bad?" "Very", then silence. Jacob could not hear, and he did not have the strength to open his eyes. Though, he could think, clearer than he ever had before.

Jacob felt raw emotions. Anger. Sadness. Aggression. Joy. Love. It was love he felt most of all, and joy. Joy that there was the slimmest chance he would see his beloved soon. In his last moment, when nearly all his memory left him, he still recalled one thing. Not his face, his name, who he was, the world, reality, none of these things. No, the thing Jacob remembered right to the end, was the sensation of her grip, so powerful he could feel it through his SPI armor.

Jacob opened his eyes and saw white, everywhere. In all directions a white endlessness continued on and on. He suddenly remembered who he was, and wondered where he was. Then hearing a beautiful voice behind him, he turned and became aware of the fact he was naked. There, in front of his very eyes, stood the woman he loved, also without clothing. Short black hair, pale skin, brown eyes. Rachel spoke to him "You've gotten taller, since I've seen you". Jacob didn't know whether he was in his head, or some far off, other place. He didn't know how long this would last, so he leaned forward, to kiss her. god he loved that. If this was the last thing he ever felt, he would be happy.

James sat in the emergency care wing of the _Titan Within _and watched as Jacob's vitals flatlined. As the entire team of Spartans watched him, he placed his head on his best friend's chest, and sobbed. His best friend was gone, and there was nothing he could do. He had watched all of the previous members of Sabre team fall, one by one. But Jacob... Jacob always survived, he never quit. Zach placed his hand on James' shoulder and said "He was a good man,"and paused "and he was a great friend".


	10. The Beginning of the End

April 13th 2543

Zach sat in the bay of a Pelican, looking upon the snowy mountain peaks below him. He looked at the Spartans sitting next to and across from him. Fred, ready as any, with his sniper rifle in hand. Alison, assault rifle loaded, and Vivian, shotgun on her back and explosives in her grip. They were all ready for what was to come next. The pilot sounded in Zach's helmet "One minute, Commander". The other Spartans heard the pilot as well. Only a short time later the Pelican angled it's nose downwards and began a low swoop over the landscape below. "The ONI tower is only a short distance away sir" said the pilot. Zach was visibly annoyed at the pilot's nervousness and would be sure to request a replacement as soon as possible. The nose of the Pelican came up at a thirty degree angle as they passed over the ONI tower. Below them, Zach could see UNSC and Covenant air vehicles engaged in heavy combat. "At least we're holding our own in the air" he thought.

The four Spartans jumped out, and landed heavily on the roof of the building. Vivian immediately found vent 17-C and planted a small explosive charge. She didn't bother to look away as she detonated the charge, and stepped back so Fred could enter the now open vent. Fred scanned the pitch black chasm below with his night vision filter. "Clear" he said, and disappeared into the darkness. Alison looked after him, and also lowered herself into the shadow below them. She landed on a hard, but not unexpected floor. She flipped on the flashlight at the end of her rifle and studied the metallic floor she stood on. Two clangs behind her told Alison that Zach and Viv had followed them. Vivian made two quick taps on the floor below her to signal she had found the position to place the second set of explosives. The other three Spartans stepped back as she applied the charge, but true to her craft, Vivian stood less than a foot away as the explosive went off. As the metal was blown away, light from the room below flooded the dark corridor. Vivian jumped through first, and the rest of them followed in suit.

Inside what had first appeared like a room, were vanilla white walls, floor and ceiling. Though the Spartans already knew it, the room was the inside of an elevator. On the double doors ahead, there was a symbol of a pyramid with a globe upon it. Vivian pressed a few keys on the control panel and shook her head. Sabre team was used to her silence and they realized that this meant it was of no use. Vivian gripped one of the double doors, and Zach took hold of the other. Fred and Alice took firing positions on the back wall. As Zach and Viv pulled the doors open gunfire flew into the elevator. The Spartans immediately took cover on either side of the half open doors. Zach called out, "Friendly!" then stepped into the doorway. This time, he was able to step into the room without hostility. An ODST was there to salute him with a smile "Sergeant Barnes sir, damn are we glad to see you!" Zach smiled behind his silver colored visor. There were two views of Spartans in the UNSC. Some saw them as heroes. Others saw them as un-human, alien, and no different from the Covenant. Fortunately, Sergeant Henry Barnes believed former. Zach spoke without giving a hint of his emotions

"What's the situation Sergeant?" Barnes responded solemnly "Well, sir this here is all that's left." He motioned towards a group of two other ODST's, and three marines. "How many men were originally assigned to defend this area?" Barnes looked troubled by this question, as though he knew the answer, but couldn't bring himself to speak it aloud. After a few second hesitation he said "Around two hundred, sir." Behind him, Fred's knees wavered. Fred always did understand the non-Spartans. Zach too felt grief, even if it was not as great as Fred's. They may not have been Spartans, but a large amount of men and women had died protecting this place. This only made Sabre's current mission harder to bear. "Sir, the Covies are holding every floor except this one sir, but the largest of their forces are trapped on floor seven.

"Trapped, Sergeant?" it was Vivian who spoke this time, obviously excited at Covenant soldiers to hunt who had no way of escape. "Yes, ma'am, we brought the elevator up here and disabled it, then we destroyed the stairs with C-12." All three of the other Spartans knew Vivian was smiling sadistically beneath her helmet, with that predatory gaze in her eyes. Zach spoke to the man again, "Did you say they were massed on floor seven?" "Yes sir we can confirm that most of the Covies are on floor seven, the security cameras showed over fifty of them before they were destroyed, so unless they've all jumped out the windows, it's safe to say that they're still there. Sir, are you our evac?" The Spartan shifted his foot position "No, sergeant, but another Pelican will be on it's way to pick you up in approximately two hours". This statement visibly heightened the mood of the soldiers. Zach asked "Is that some left over C-12?" He indicated to the large crate in the corner of the small room. "Yes sir, you're welcome to it". Zach spoke to Sabre team now "Viv, Fred get that crate in the elevator. Alison, see what you can do about that control panel." Three green acknowledgement lights winked, and the Spartans set to their work.

Rtas Verumee studied the alien runes on the wall in front of him. As he had seen similar ones on his way up, he assumed they were some sort of simple numbering system, each denoting what level of the structure they currently inhabited. The rune he gazed upon now had interested in him for some time now. While several Yan'me worked a few strides away from him, attempting to repair the primitive, gravity lift like device. The closest resemblance he could place to it was that of an elevator, and an unsophisticated, primitive one at that. The current rune Rtas was studying was composed of to lines conjoined, one vertical and slightly curved and the other horizontal, laying on top of the previous line.

The vertical line extended from the far right of the vertical one, and curved slightly to the right at what was close to double the length of the top segment. Before he could delve into the aliens' primitive language further, Rtas was startled by Yan'me fleeing from the entrance to human device. He heard a high pitched noise come from the doors that covered the mechanism. A bright blue light shone above the doors in a similar fashion of the rune on the wall. Rtas understood this meant the device was now on this level. He signaled to his four nearby black armored Sangheili to activate their cloak, and they took up firing positions next to the doors. When they opened, the Sangheili sprung into the elevator, ready to slaughter the weak alien warriors, but there proved to be none. In fact the only thing inside the chamber was a large crate that came up to Rtas's waist.

Fred looked down the elevator shaft with his night vision activated. The elevator had reached what his count told him was floor seven, and stopped. He gazed upwards, hoping the cable he was suspended from would hold him on the way down. He looked down again when an enormous explosion rocked the elevator shaft. Fred hoped at least a few of the hostiles had been standing within twenty feet of the machine, because they would all be dead. Fred looked at the other three Spartans, Zach gave the order, and the four super soldiers began to descend into the shaft. Alison reached what was left of the elevator first, and with a quick stroke of her knife, quickly severed the last threads of steel that clung together, the only thing stopping the elevator from dropping another seven stories to the bottom of the building.

It did, and landed with the satisfying sound of bare metal being bent and torn apart. The inner doors had been blown apart in the explosion, so she simply leaned towards the opening that led to floor seven, and unmagnitized the cable that held her waist. The others followed in suit, and soon there were four Spartans clearing a large room. Mostly, the enemy bodies were unrecognizable, unless you specialized in the anatomy of Covenant species, and knew what their organs looked like after being put into a blender. Fred scanned the area to make sure nothing was moving, and was reassured. Zach took point and led them around a corner to a surprised group of two Jackals, who were both killed with a quick shot to the head from his DMR. Sabre team moved like a pack of wolves. They didn't even take the time to check each room thoroughly before moving to the next. If the Covenant had found the data stored on ONI's terminal software in the building, it was a race against time to destroy it. Zach had retrieved intel that due to a mistake in the wiping process, some of the data in this facility had failed to be erased.

It was anyone's guess what data it could be, but it could be anything from the location of Reach, to the battle plans for the defense of the colony, to the proper usage a standard issue security sidearm. But, ONI wasn't taking the chances that any data left behind would be unimportant. When they had walked through three different hallways, Zach stopped at a point in the wall that seemed to be completely seamless. There was however, a small glass-like black tile on the wall. Zach removed his helmet and stared into the tile. A blue light shone, scanning his eye, then as if by some other force, the wall slid apart, revealing a small, dark room with extremely advanced and expensive hardware including terminals and mainframes that held potential secrets that, if the Covenant were to know, the war would be over in the time it took them to travel to the UNSC colonies, plus a week or two. Zach motioned to Alison, and she set to work. She removed a panel from one of the terminals and began working on wires and circuitry. Fred had a vague idea of what she was doing, and as he watched her, his mind brought him back to their classified mission together, four months ago.

_Eighteen days. Eighteen days he had had her all to himself. The return trip on their journey through slipspace were what Fred later recalled as almost the happiest time in his entire life. _

_December 22__nd__ 2542 _

_Fred couldn't believe himself. Here he was, on board a ship with no one except an old pilot who kept to himself, and the love of his life. He had been here for two days already and he was yet to even acknowledge that she was more than his teammate. Fred was showering, thinking about the times when he should have kissed her. 1It was like he was eight years old, and they had yet to share their first kiss. As he turned off the water, he turned and grabbed a towel to dry off with. After he dried his body he pulled the towel to his face, then his hair, which was now partially grey due to genetic side effects of the augmentation, a fact that didn't wholly bother Fred. "I really need to get my hair cut when I-" As he removed the towel from his face, he saw her. Immediately, Fred wrapped the towel around his waist. "Allie I…" Allie he had used her old name. She said nothing, but quickly slowly advanced to him, and brought his face down to hers. Their lips were so close, yet neither of them made the first move. Finally, after what seemed like hours, he gently pulled her to him. In a loving embrace that lasted longer than any they had before, they finally broke apart after what seemed, and actually was, several minutes. They had never gone much further than this. Always someone had interrupted them, or they had to go for training, but not now. Now they had sixteen more days. The heavy snogging then led them to Alison's, where it had become heavy bed snogging. When Fred woke up Alison was still in his arms, half clothed. The next fifteen days were spent exploring each other's minds, bodies, personalities. Everything. Fred and Alison had realized at that point that one universal rule they had been taught all their lives was fundamentally wrong. The UNSC was not the most important thing in this world. _

Fred shifted back to the present. Alison was now rapidly typing on the mainframe keyboard. Zach and Viv stood guard, though the entrance to the secret room was closed. As Allie finished with the terminal, Fred was pulled by all the desire he had. Zach spoke without looking at her "How long 'til we're done here Alice?" She was about to speak that she had finished when she saw Fred raise his hand with all fingers stretched. Alison said "About five minutes, I'm almost done her". Fred removed his helmet to show his black hair, with streaks of silver, the scar on his right eye, barely visible. His beautiful green eyes shown with passion. He removed her helmet. Showing her strawberry blonde hair, nearing civilian length, light blue eyes, soft lips. Fred leaned forward to kiss her, and she returned it. After a minute Fred whispered into her ear so softly not even the other Spartans could hear "God, I love you."

She responded "I love you Fred. I just wish we weren't wearing any armor right now". Fred's pale face flushed red. Zach's voice again sounded through the comm. Alice, you done in there?" Fred quickly turned, expecting to see Zach looking right at them. But he wasn't even facing in their direction. Fred remembered the ETA Alice had given Zach and sighed with relief. As he pulled his helmet back on, Fred heard her respond "Yes sir, all cleared up". Sabre team recovered from the bit of romance earlier, and continued the mission. As much as both Fred and Alison wanted to continue their earlier plans, they both knew that in this place, that could get them killed along with their entire team. Sabre team climbed into the elevator shaft securely attached the cables they had used on their way in to their waists, and climbed. Sergeant Barnes was surprised to see them alive as they came up the elevator shaft.


	11. A Good Day to Smile

April 13th 2543

Rtas Verumee stepped into the human machine containing the large crate. He was somewhat more skilled in reading human runes than any of his Sangheili. On the crate were three runes. Perhaps they were a message of surrender? No, Rtas had seen these before, but he couldn't recall where. After a few seconds of thought he regained his memory. He had seen the rune on a smaller crate, similar to this one. It had been an explosive device, planted by the aliens as a trap. "A similar device of this size…" Rtas stopped his thought process there and immediately started to sprint away from the elevator. He had almost turned the corner when a gigantic explosion blew him into a close by wall. He felt his bones crack as the pressure from the explosion rammed him against the structure. As Rtas lay, bleeding and on the brink of unconsciousness, he activated his cloaking device, not wanting to die by the hands that had most certainly killed his team. His vision grew hazy and the last thing he saw before slipping into darkness was an alien in light blue armor seeming to appear from thin air.

Rtas awoke several hours later, and was immediately aware of a searing pain his abdomen. Around him lay the dismembered remains and pools of violet blood that had once been his Sangheili. Every fiber in his being strove him towards one feeling. _Revenge. _He painfully attempted to recall everything he had seen before he had fallen unconscious, and could only remember the alien in light blue armor…

May 26th 2543

Sim sighted the jackal through the scope of his SR99. He was laying prone in a patch of undergrowth, that was only the bottom layer of the rain forest covered colony New Hope that Sabre had been requisitioned to defend. Currently, their mission was to infiltrate a Covenant base that was only twenty kliks east of the main population center of the planet. The mass amount of Covenant here was unsettling, even for Spartans. They had gathered in the thousands, preparing for a major assault.

Sim reflected on the Covenant's reasons for not glassing the colony when they had won the navy battle a week earlier. Whatever the reason, the alien bastards had set up camps outside nearly every major population center, and started preparations for a massive invasion.

Sim's contemplations were cut short as Zach's voice nearly whispered into his comm, "Sim, take the shot." Sim brought his right trigger finger towards his palm a few centimeters, instantly and silently bringing an end to the jackal's life. Two shadows emerged from the bushes near him a few meters ahead of him and silently crawled across the jungle floor towards the Covenant base. Sim spoke into his comm "Copy that sir. Tango neutralized. Alice and Steven are advancing now." When there was no response Sim took it a clear to advance. The camouflaged warrior slowly crept through the underbrush to his next vantage point, a small grassy hill that lay just inside the tree line to the large open area that held the Covenant facility.

Sim heard a voice on his comm screaming " -epeat exfil the area ASAP, we're out of time! I repeat, Sabre team exfiltrate the area and meet at exacuation site Delta Foxtrot!" This voice was new to Sim, and even though it was frenzied and somewhat stricken with panic, it had a sound of authority to it that almost made Sim obey it.

Suddenly, Zach's calmer voice filled his helmet "Do not ignore that last order, meet at evac point Delta Foxtrot, we take off in two minutes so move your asses!" As the sun washed up over New Hope, coating the jungle in a red-orange haze of beautiful light, Sim suddenly realized the reason for this unplanned retreat.

The Sun couldn't be rising, it was almost midnight, the sun wouldn't be up for at least six hours. No this new. Second sun was the bright red-white heated plasma ejecting from a Covenant super carrier, a glassing beam.

Alison checked her assault rifle's ammo counter. "Fifteen rounds and no extra mags" she thought as her Sim, and Steven sprinted through the now ablaze jungle. All the heat in such a moist area was giving off so much steam they could hardly see at all. Alison was on pint in the group, when they came across a now dry riverbed full of soon-to-be-dead grunts she emptied the last of her ammunition into the arthropods. Then, trusting Steven and Sim would finish them off, she dropped her now useless weapon and continued sprinting through the fiery rain forest.

Fred and James were crouched in a dry stream bed that was there only shelter in the hell that the jungle had become. Trees around them blazed with flames, moisture evaporating in front of their eyes due to the extreme heat that was nearing the hundred and thirties. If they stayed here they would be fried to a crisp by the intense inferno that had seized the air around them. However, if they left the stream bed, they would almost certainly be killed by the elites that had them pinned down from kilometers away with beam rifles. "So, what do you suggest?" James questioned the smaller Spartan. "Me? You're the commanding officer. I'm just here to follow orders." Fred retorted humorously while sporting a huge grin beneath his visor.

James spoke back "Well, you are the expert in this situation, what route do you think has the least chance of us being shredded by energy beams?" "That one." Fred offered while pointing at what had used to be some sort of animal trail that had once continued into the foliage, only now to be virtually on fire.

James almost took a step when Fred stopped him by placing a hand on his friend's chest, "No there's still a ninety percent chance they'd hit you from that trail." "Well then," James said "We'd be better off going together, that way there's a chance one of us will make it out alive."

Fred's face exploded into another unseen grin, James always was a crazy one…

Vivian attempted to stand, but the weight of her armor seemed more than it ever had before. So, abandoning hope of escape, she collapsed onto the jungle floor. The corpses of a dozen Sangheili assassins that had held energy blades until a few minutes ago were strewn around her. Their bodies were covered in mutilations and buckshot from Vivian's furious resistance.

Vivian showed signs of battle as well. At least ten puncture wounds from the assassin's swords had burned through her armor, searing her flesh and organs that lay underneath. There was no way she could hope to survive even if she did get to the evac site. Oh well, twelve of them for one of her? A fair trade any day in Vivian's book. The hulking killer died, her kukri knife clutched in her left hand, and a maniacal smile on her helmet less face covered in blood, violet and crimson.

Rtas Verumee lay crouched in the jungle vegetation near what seemed a pitiful human version of a landing pad. Really it was just simply a cleared pice of disgusting human dirt that the heretics used to land their vile ships and take off again. Rtas had seen many humans pass by him, but he had styed hidden and cloaked, knowing his revenge required him to strike at the right moment. He had not moved for svereal hours, but Rtas knew that when he saw the Holy Cleansing Light that his taste for blood would soon be quenched. And a short time later, just as he had predicted a group of three human demons moved into the clearing. Rtas deactivated his cloak and withdrew his blade, the plasma searing the air around it. He charged into their path, ready to kill them all.

Simm couldn't belive his eyes when he first saw it, as they had entered the clearing that served as their evacuation point, a black armored Elite had come roraring a war cry with an energy sword raised high in swing. Before he could eact it brought the blade down on Alison, who had just enough time to roll to the left, though not totally avoinding injury as her severed wrist flew through the air spewing a fountain of blood. By this point Simm had his rifle halfway out of it's sling and was in the process of sliding a new magazine into it. Steven, though had already draw his assault rifle and began to fire fully automatic at the Elite who, with speed that Simm had never seen in anything besides a Spartan swung the blade again, this time vertically severing the end of the Steven's rifle's barrel.

Steven was reaching for the sidearm on his hip but before he could fully draw the weapon a horozontal slash from the crazed Elite passed through Steven's skull, ending the life of the young Spartan. Simm had now sighted the alien while it was spinning around to face Alison who had collapsed on her stomach on the ground nearby. At the same time the energy blade entered her back, Simm fired his rifle, blowing the creatures brains all over the soil below and causing the blade that had been stuck into Alsions abdomen to lose it's power source.

James was ferrying a wounded Fred across the jungle. During their "excursion" Fred had taken a particle beam to the left shin. This was not totally unexpected as James had immedaitel picked him up and hoisted Fred over his shoulder, simultaneously handing the injured Spartan his assault rifle to return fire to any hostile forces they might encounter. And encounter they did. They had been through several squads of Covenant but James had never stopped for a moment, knowing they were on an ever decreasing deadline.

Up ahead, James spotted the large clearing that was the evac point. He continued sprinting until the Pelican being used for evacuation was in sight. And when that happened, James sprinted faster until he and Fred reached the dropship. James set Fred upon the floor of the bay of the aircraft and looked at the ship's occupants. Zachary and Simm were seated in the seats of the Pelican, while two medical personell surveyed Alison who was on the floor next to James with an amputated wrist and plasma burns in her chest.

He looked at Zach and started to say "Wher-" But Zach just shook his head and cut him off with "They're gone." James shifted his gaze to Simm who simply odded in confirmation.


End file.
